Baitullah Mehsud

Baitullah Mehsud (1974-23 August 2009) was a member of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) branch of the Taliban, and formed the group in 2007 out of five militant groups. Responsible for the assassination of Pakistani female politician Benazir Bhutto, he was killed by a CIA drone strike during the Waziristan War.

Biography
Baitullah Mehsud was born in 1974 Landi Dhok in the Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan to a Sunni Pashtun family. Mehsud often traveled to Afghanistan as a young madrassa student to help the Taliban implement sharia law, and after the 2004 death of Nek Muhammad Wazir, he was appointed Mohammed Omar's governor of the Mehsud area. He believed his brother Abdullah Mehsud to be an informant, and he fought against the government of Pakistan in the Waziristan War. In 2006 he attempted a ceasefire, but after the 2007 Siege of Lal Masjid, Mehsud continued fighting Pakistan. Baitullah made enemies with Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur for sheltering Uzbek militants who Nazir attempted to evict from South Waziristan. In 2007, 80% of suicide bombings were attributed to Baitullah, and 90% of militant attacks were attributed to him between 2007 and 2009.

On 5 August 2009 Baitullah Mehsud stayed with his second wife in her father-in-law's house in Zangar, South Waziristan, hoping to build relations with his new father-in-law. However, the CIA of the United States launched a drone airstrike on the house, mortally wounding Mehsud. Mehsud died on 23 August 2009 of his wounds, and Hakimullah Mehsud succeeded him as the leader of the TTP.